Yesterday began at 6:00 a.m. and ended at 9:00 p.m. It was crazy. It still feels like the rush of the beginning of school. It’s not supposed to be this way. I managed to slow down enough to enjoy my class, which was really fun yesterday. I think we’re finally getting to know each other.

But I can’t think. I can barely string together a complete sentence and that’s so not fun. Words are my thing. Losing them. Not good.

I have to ask, those of you who are profs and parents, how painful is it for you to listen to curriculum discussions at the elementary or middle school level? After parent night last night, I was seriously considering home schooling. Listening to the way writing was taught pained me. And social studies? Oh. My. FSM. The teacher has an “inside track” on Iraq because she’s got three family members stationed there. Hellooo. Can we say one sided? Ugh. I guess I’ll just have to encourage Geeky Boy to think outside the box and to argue back. Sigh.

And the other thing that just freaks me out. The structure of it all. So rigid. And I’m sitting there thinking, “This is what I have to get students to unlearn when they get to college.” Oh, and the “Info Tech” class. OS 9 people! OS 9. And they’re just learning to type. That’s it. No how to use wikipedia. No other software tools. I know it costs money to buy new computers and all, but OS 9? AppleWorks? Holy crap. The woman teaching the class used to teach shorthand.

The only good thing was math and science. I liked math and science. The teacher’s a younger guy, about my age, and approaches learning very differently and uses technologhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gify in the classroom. They’re doing and online web thing with hurricanes. He puts the responsibility for learning on the students and provides an appropriate enviornment and the tools they need. So yay for that.

But man, the state of the public school system sucks. Such old methods. No wonder we’re lagging.

In other news, I sent chapter 4 off–hooray, hurrah. I am taking it a little bit easy this week. Did a little bit of work yesterday, but today, I have an early start to my work day, so I’m just hanging out. I lived with that chapter for so long, it feels weird to be moving on. But I’m glad I am. I can *really* see the light at the end of the tunnel now. So weird.

I have some more to say about faculty, teaching and technology. When my brain functions, I’ve been thinking about this, so more on that later. Oh, and I should go visit Wednesday Whining (is it Wednesday already?)